Voice and Video Call Quality

Voice and video call quality for Office Communicator 2007 and Office Live Meeting 2007 is dependent on the condition of the network. A common cause of degradation of voice and video quality is packet loss, which means that tiny fragments of the conversation get lost. Office Communicator 2007 and Live Meeting 2007 are engineered to handle a wide range of packet loss on the network and still maintain high quality audio and video. However, under severe conditions you may experience one or more of the following effects:

• Tinny audio     Occurs when the person you are talking to sounds un-natural and may have a higher pitch than expected. Loss of words-- Occurs when portions of the conversation are lost. Choppy video--Occurs when the video image does not have a smooth appearance.

• Loss of words     Occurs when portions of the conversation are lost.

• Choppy video     Occurs when the video image does not have a smooth appearance.

Common causes of packet loss

Common causes for packet loss include:

• LAN Congestion    Occurs when routers or other network equipment are overloaded with too much traffic. This could occur on your home network, your ISP, or your company's network.

• Wireless LAN interference     Occurs when a large number of wireless devices are connected to the access points. Can also occur from interference from other devices such as cell phones, cordless phones, and even your microwave oven

• Faulty LAN cabling/connection     Occurs when a cable is defective or becomes damaged.

• Hardware configuration     Occurs when the network equipment is mis-configured in your home, in your ISP, or in your company's network.

What can you do to reduce packet loss?

If you are on a wireless network     you may be able to improve the connection by:

• Moving closer to the wireless access point

• Finding a less busy wireless access point to use

• Switching to wired connection

Note: You can also refer to the product documentation for the router/WLAN card for additional ways to improve wireless connection

If you are on a wired network     you may be able to improve the connection by:

• Checking if other computers on the network are performing heavy downloads/uploads and see if they can be delayed or halted

• Ensuring that your router/modem have the latest firmware available

• Checking the network cables between your computer and router and between router and modem to ensure that they are plugged in and do not show signs of damage

• Contacting your ISP, if you are at home

• Contacting your IT admin, if you are at work

Note: For IT Admins     Consider deploying the Quality Metrics Server to get a detailed view of packet loss throughout your VoIP deployment.

Poor level of network quality

The "poor" level of network quality reflects periods of between 10-30% packet loss occurring on the network. This includes packets that are being sent to and from your machine. This data may be useful when discussing the network issues with your IT Admin or ISP.

Very poor level of network quality

The "very poor" level of network quality reflects periods of more than 30% packet loss occurring on the network. This includes packets that are being sent to and from your machine. This data may be useful when discussing the network issues with your IT Admin or ISP.